EA has filed a lawsuit against Zynga over The Ville, alleging that the social games giant is "in clear violation" of copyright laws.

"The legal reasons are solid. But for creative teams who feel that their hard work and imaginations have been ripped off, there's obviously an emotional element too," wrote Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw. "As outlined in our complaint, when The Ville was introduced in June 2012, the infringement of The Sims Social was unmistakable to those of us at Maxis as well as to players and the industry at large."

"This is a case of principle. Maxis isn't the first studio to claim that Zynga copied its creative product. But we are the studio that has the financial and corporate resources to stand up and do something about it. Infringing a developer's copyright is not an acceptable practice in game development. By calling Zynga out on this illegal practice, we hope to have a secondary effect of protecting the rights of other creative studios who don't have the resources to protect themselves."

Zynga responded with:

Quote

"We are committed to creating the most fun, innovative, social and engaging games in every major genre that our players enjoy. The Ville is the newest game in our 'ville' franchise – it builds on every major innovation from our existing invest-and-express games dating back to YoVille and continuing through CityVille and CastleVille, and introduces a number of new social features and game mechanics not seen in social games today. It's unfortunate that EA thought that this was an appropriate response to our game, and clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic copyright principles. It's also ironic that EA brings this suit shortly after launching SimCity Social which bears an uncanny resemblance to Zynga's CityVille game. Nonetheless, we plan to defend our rights to the fullest extent possible and intend to win with players."

maybe a judge will decide that both need to be taken out back behind the wood shed and put down; then everyone will win!

« Last Edit: August 04, 2012, 05:14:23 PM by CeeKay »

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Can't say I agree. If creating a game in a similar style to someone else's game is a breach of copyright, the games industry as we know it will cease to be. Or at least there will be no more military shooters. Hmm, maybe I should support EA after all...

Can't say I agree. If creating a game in a similar style to someone else's game is a breach of copyright, the games industry as we know it will cease to be. Or at least there will be no more military shooters. Hmm, maybe I should support EA after all...

It's not the mimicry of style that has me rooting for EA, it's that Zynga has made it their business model to blatantly copy and crush competition due to their size in the market. Trust me, I'd rather root for the little developer, but if this ends with some kind of judgement against Zynga, then EA is the best chance for that happening.

Can't say I agree. If creating a game in a similar style to someone else's game is a breach of copyright, the games industry as we know it will cease to be. Or at least there will be no more military shooters. Hmm, maybe I should support EA after all...

I don't think the issue at hand is that EA is suing because Zynga is copying a game style, that is, they aren't suing because Zynga decided to make a life simulator game. Rather, they're suing because Zynga blatantly copied art assets in the game.

"Today we responded to EA's claims which we believe have no merit. We also filed a counterclaim which addresses actions by EA we believe to be anticompetitive and unlawful business practices, including legal threats and demands for no-hire agreements. We look forward to getting back to focusing all our efforts on delighting our players."

Reached for comment, EA spokesman John Reseburg told Joystiq, "This is a predictable subterfuge aimed at diverting attention from Zynga's persistent plagiarism of other artists and studios. Zynga would be better served trying to hold onto the shrinking number of employees they've got, rather than suing to acquire more."

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